Cognates are a great shortcut to learning Spanish, as Spanish and English have thousands of these words that are basically the same in both languages.

Most words that end in English in tion can be changed to Spanish by ción. An example is the solution to la solución. (And we laughingly add that an easy way to remember these are all feminine words is to remember that solutions are feminine, and problems are masculine. El problema is one of those words ending in ma, pa, ta, which entered Spanish through Greek.)

But beware of these common false friends. They look and sound like an English words, but have a completely different meaning.

Actual – means current, at the present time, as in actualmente.

Use real or verdadero for real or actual.

Asistir – means to attend. Asisto a la escuela.

Use ayudar for to help or to assist.

Carpeta – means a file folder. Use alfombra for carpet or rug.

Constipado – refers to cold congestion, doesn’t mean the obvious.

Use estreñido for constipated.

Decepcion, decepcionar – means disappointed. Estoy muy decepcionada.

Use engañoso for deceptive. Delito – means a minor crime.

Use un encanto for something very nice. Desgracia – means a misfortune.

For a real disgrace use una vergüenza.

Embarazada – means pregnant, not embarrassing. (This is a common mistake, and I once overheard a priest state Estoy embarazado. Very amusing!)

Use tener vergüenza or sentirse avergonzado.

Emocionado (a) – means thrilling or exciting, not just emotional as in a mood. Estoy muy emocionada.

Exito – means a success, as in tener éxito. Use la salida for the exit.

7. español y inglés – wrong! In this case the I sound in inglés disappears when Y is put in front of it. Use the substitute “e” here – español e inglés. But note you can say inglés y español! The idea of siete u ocho (where u substitutes for o) is the same.

8. Estoy caliente. If you mean to say that you’re in a passionate state right now, then you’ve expressed that. However, if you’re talking about temperature from the weather, tengo calor.

10. Soy un arquitecto – wrong. Drop the un or una in front of a person’s profession when it is Not modified. Soy arquitecto. I am an architect. …And now two really embarrassing ones…

11. Tengo muchos anos. If you’re trying to say you’re old, you’ve failed when you haven’t added the tilde NY sound to this word. However, you have described yourself as a physical anomaly in your lower region. Be sure to say año, especially in saying ¿Cuántos años tiene usted?

12. Estoy embarazada. Great if you’ll be giving birth, as it means you’re pregnant, not that you’re embarrassed.

Haber is one of the more unusual verbs in Spanish, but it’s an indispensable one. The present tense form hay is usually translated as there is or there are. But note that it has nothing to do with location, rather it refers to existence. (If you were pointing at the “there” of location, you would use estar, as in El dinero está allí. Very often in everyday speech, you comment on the existence of something. Hay mucho dinero en la mesa. Hay muchas personas en las calles. Note that it is always hay, whether it refers to the existence of something singular or plural.

It is often used in public situations where in English you would ask the more personal, do you have…? In a restaurant, for example, ¿Hay vino? This is a more polite, less personal way of asking whether the restaurant offers something. It’s common to be looking for something in a store, and you’re met with a shrug of the shoulders and the dreaded comment, No hay. What about the past, expressing there was or there were? This form is había, and notice that it is also used for either singular or plural. (A note that sometimes this is used ungrammatically even by native speakers who may say habían, but this is not correct usage.) Había muchos problemas. This form expresses a description of something, without a defined beginning or end. It’s a very generalized statement. The other past form is hubo. This indicates there was or there were but indicates that it is over. Hubo un incendio en un edificio ayer. Hubo una guerra allí en 1943.

Other forms used are future – habrá, there will be. This makes a very strong statement, stronger in feeling than the less specific va a pasar – it’s going to happen. Habrá problemas sin dinero. The subjunctive form is haya, there may be. Espero que haya más tiempo. The conditional form is habría, there would be The other use of haber is what is called as an auxiliary or helping verb to form the perfect tenses. These are when we use “to have” as a helping verb in English. I have written, they had seen, I will have finished, you would have done – these are all called perfect tenses, and they are expanded to be called Present Perfect, Past Perfect, etc. With these forms in Spanish you use all conjugated parts of the helping verb, as it does agree with the subject. Present – he, has, ha, hemos, han. They’re used with a part participle – this is equivalent in English to spoken, seen, done, finished. He hablado, has visto, ha hecho, hemos terminado.

The most commonly used past forms: había, habías, había, habíamos, habían – I had spoken, había hablado, they had finished, habían terminado The conditional is often used in this tense – habría, habrías, habría,habríamos, habrían – he would have spoken, habría hablado ¡Ay, ay, ay…so many things to consider with hay!

Ayudar is the verb for help, and you can expand your plea by saying Ayúdeme, por favor, but Spanish speakers think socorro is easier to shout out. Reflexive verbs Think of these as the action coming back to the speaker, or reflecting back as in a mirror. This works most of the time, and remember to always match the little pronouns of me, te, se, nos, se with the subject pronoun. Lavarse – to wash oneself, me lavo, te lavas, él se lava, ella se lava, usted se lava, nosotros nos lavamos, ellos se lavan, ustedes se lavan.

Other frequently spoken verbs used this way are bañarse (to bathe), arreglarse (to get yourself ready, as in to put on makeup and get dressed), cuidarse (to take care of oneself), lastimarse (to hurt oneself), sentarse (to sit oneself down) Sometimes these have the feeling of to get, such as emborracharse (to get yourself drunk). Ever wondered how to say “I wonder” in Spanish? Use the reflexive verb preguntarse, me pregunto. Me pregunto si eso va a ser posible. I wonder if that’s going to be possible. Some exceptions which are reflexive are the verbs: Enamorarse de (to fall in love with, but not with yourself) Me enamoré de él el año pasado. Sentirse (ie) (to feel in terms of health or emotions). Me siento muy triste hoy. Irse (to leave) -Te vas ahora? Sí, me voy. – Are you leaving now? Yes, I’m leaving.

Be on special alert for reflexive verbs dealing with parts of the body or clothing. In English we would always say something such as I wash my hands or I put on my hat. The “my” is necessary because the verb in English doesn’t indicate possession. In Spanish, however, the verb shows who is receiving the action, so it would be considered redundant to use a possessive pronoun. Examples: Voy a lavarme las manos. I’m going to wash my hands. Notice you don’t say mis manos, as it’s clear whose hands you’re washing by the reflexive verb. Voy a ponerme el sombrero. I’m going to put on my hat. Same idea, just as long as it’s your own hat.

There’s a really good reason for this, and it’s a quite practical one. When you have a word which starts with the I sound or Y sound (in Spanish), or you have a word with the silent H before an I sound, if you use “y” to say “and” before such a word, it slides into the sound of the second word and is indistinguishable. For that reason the substitute “e” is correct. In other words, if you want to say padre Y hijo, you must correctly say padre e hijo.

Another common combination is the term for research and development, commonly said in English as R & D. In Spanish the phrase has the development word coming first (who knows why!), and the term is desarrollo e investigaciÃ³n. Another variation of this role is to substitute “u” when meaning “or” when the word coming after it starts with the sound of O (and also applies with the silent H). A common phrase utilizing this concept is “siete u ocho”.You might be tempted to use it in saying “one or the other”, but you avoid it in this case by saying correctly “el uno o el otro”.

Another similar area deals with nouns which are actually feminine, but sometimes use the masculine word for “the” in front of them. It’s the same idea. If a word starts with a stressed “a” (silent H applies also), if you said “la” in front of it, the sounds slide together. So to avoid this, the masculine “el” is substituted.? The noun still stays feminine, however, and adjectives will be feminine, as well as the plural form, because in that case, the added “s” solves the problem. Examples:The word agua is a feminine word. However, you say el agua, el agua clara, el agua purificada, las aguas. Some common words which follow this pattern are: el alma – soul, el Ã¡guila – eagle, el ala – wing, el alba – dawn (“at dawn” would be said “al alba”), el aula – classroom

Usted versus Tu (and don’t forget the accent on the subject word, as without it means “your”) Understand that there are many variables in the subject words for “you” in Spanish. It’s handy to think of “tu” as the first name, informal version of you. Then think of usted as a shortened form of Your Grace, which is what you used in speaking to the king. Also, thinking of it this way makes it easy to remember that usted is third person singular. Think of…are you happy, good buddy? as opposed to…IS your grace happy today? In Latin America the ustedes form is used for the plural (think you all) form of both tu and usted. In Spain, however, the vosotros form is used for the plural you. Those are the basics, but you should know that there are many cultural and geographical nuances.

Some countries (Spain) move quickly to tu (using the verb “tutear” or the idiom “romper el turron” (a kind of nougat candy), while in Costa Rica even good friends and family are addressed as usted. It’s best to keep your ears wide open on this one and follow the local lead. But in general, use usted with strangers, in public situations (clerks, taxi drivers…women can be seen as flirtatious if they address a man in such a situation as tu), people for whom you wish to show respect (a good friend’s grandmother, an important position in a company), or to keep a professional distance. Use tu when speaking to a child, when speaking to family members, when praying (supreme beings are addressed as tu to show closeness), when you and the other person have agreed to use tu or when someone insists you address them as tu. However, it’s always better to err on the side of being too formal than too familiar.

Also pay close attention to learning all the irregular positive command forms for tu. Most of them are short, one syllable words – hacer: haz, decir: di, dar: da, poner: pon, salir: sal, tener: ten One possible theory for this is that it makes them very convenient to yell at your children when they are “sacandole las canas verdes”, literally pulling out your green gray hair, but figuratively, driving you crazy.

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